Natron - tutorials

[JackFarmer]

Does anyone here know about video tutorials explaining how to create briefing videos similar to the typcial Thief/DM style?

[freyk]

Like videos using the "ken burns effect" and "parralax effect"?

Sure, lots of tutorials on youtube for other video editors. Not searched yet for natron. 

Edited February 20, 2022 by freyk

[JackFarmer]

1 hour ago, freyk said:

Like videos using the "ken burns effect" and "parralax effect"?

Sure, lots of tutorials on youtube for other video editors. Not searched yet for natron. 

Yes, that sort of thing. Which cost free editor would you recommend for Thief-like briefing videos?

Natron looked very promising for 2D compositing, but when I tried to figure out the basics today, I had already lots of crashes - and I was just trying simple text/pictures/shadertoy compositing. I am pretty sure that's not a problem on  my end as online research shows that lots of the features are faulty, plus, the development crew is quite small. It is beyond me how this shall work for even more complex setups.

Thing is, I want to do this myself for future missions, but I don't feel like investing into an AE license with tons of features I will never need.

@Zerg Rush: Any ideas here?

 

[freyk]

I dont have any experience adding those effects.

I tried shortcut, openshot and kdenlive to edit videos. But Natron looks nice.

Edited February 21, 2022 by freyk

[datiswous]

My feeling is that you're better of with a video editor that is simple, but not too limited, but has also been around for a while.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEyrC1v-M1s) Openshot

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXRSsTBtHNM) Shotcut

 

What did you use for Hidden Hands The Anomaly ?

Edited February 20, 2022 by datiswous

[freyk]

Found videos about the effects in natron:

 

 

 

[Zerg Rush]

9 hours ago, JackFarmer said:

Yes, that sort of thing. Which cost free editor would you recommend for Thief-like briefing videos?

Natron looked very promising for 2D compositing, but when I tried to figure out the basics today, I had already lots of crashes - and I was just trying simple text/pictures/shadertoy compositing. I am pretty sure that's not a problem on  my end as online research shows that lots of the features are faulty, plus, the development crew is quite small. It is beyond me how this shall work for even more complex setups.

Thing is, I want to do this myself for future missions, but I don't feel like investing into an AE license with tons of features I will never need.

@Zerg Rush: Any ideas here?

 

It's difficult, a good alternative to Natron isn't out there for free- There are some OpenSource alternatives, but the most very outdated (more than 10 years), or discontinued, not longer available.

You can try Fusion17, its a profesional editor with a reduced free versión (paid versión $295 ) https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/

Another, completly free, is Hitfilm Express, but I don't know if it's a relly good alternative to Natron https://fxhome.com/product/hitfilm-express

Take also a look on 

https://www.olivevideoeditor.org/download.php

 

 

[JackFarmer]

20 hours ago, datiswous said:

My feeling is that you're better of with a video editor that is simple, but not too limited, but has also been around for a while.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEyrC1v-M1s) Openshot

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXRSsTBtHNM) Shotcut

 

What did you use for Hidden Hands The Anomaly ?

All previous briefing videos have been made with After Effects by a friend of mine who unfortunately cannot do it anymore.

These video editors look very useful and pretty close to what I am searching for, I will have a closer look. Thank you.

 

11 hours ago, Zerg Rush said:

It's difficult, a good alternative to Natron isn't out there for free- There are some OpenSource alternatives, but the most very outdated (more than 10 years), or discontinued, not longer available.

You can try Fusion17, its a profesional editor with a reduced free versión (paid versión $295 ) https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/fusion/

Another, completly free, is Hitfilm Express, but I don't know if it's a relly good alternative to Natron https://fxhome.com/product/hitfilm-express

Take also a look on 

https://www.olivevideoeditor.org/download.php

 

 

I did not know that there is a free version of Fusion, I will check it out as well. Thank you for the hint.

 

21 hours ago, freyk said:

But Natron looks nice.

Indeed, I played around with it some more time and it is really very powerful. Apart from the bugs the only thing I consider a hindrance is the node based approach when it comes to complex settings (although one can circumvent that to a certain extend by using the alternative curve editor).

Edited February 21, 2022 by JackFarmer

[Zerg Rush]

Yes, it's called DaVinci resolve 17 https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/fusion

[JackFarmer]

On 2/21/2022 at 8:48 PM, Zerg Rush said:

Yes, it's called DaVinci resolve 17 https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/fusion

I've found a great tutorial for DaVinci. Even the free version seemingly offers plenty of features.

I think I have a few promising options now. Thank you @Zerg Rush@datiswous@freyk

[Geep]

I was looking for a fairly basic, easy to learn, video editor for Stolen Heart's cutscene, and settled on OpenShot, which did the job. It didn't seem to have any crash problems (as it reportedly had in years past).

I just wish I had beefed up my hardware before doing the video capture (in OBS Studio), so it wouldn't have been so jerky due to low framerate running both OBS and TDM.

[datiswous]

On 2/27/2022 at 11:16 AM, JackFarmer said:

I think I have a few promising options now. Thank you

So what did you choose?

Spoiler

Sorry, couldn't resist doing a bit of necroposting myself..

 

On 2/20/2022 at 9:04 PM, freyk said:

Like videos using the "ken burns effect" and "parralax effect"?

So I think this can both be done with gui transition effects, so you don't need a video for that. If only we had a visual editor for making such gui-based briefings.

Edited March 20, 2024 by datiswous

[JackFarmer]

On 3/20/2024 at 11:57 AM, datiswous said:

So what did you choose?

  Reveal hidden contents

Sorry, couldn't resist doing a bit of necroposting myself..

I have familiarized myself with DaVinci Resolve. After a short training period, I'm already getting on relatively well. If push comes to shove, I'll use it to create the briefings myself.

If I wanted to buy such an editor, I would use Movavi (stumbled over it when looking for Openshot alternatives). I tried the trial version and I got to grips with it straight away. I've never seen anything more intuitive, but that's subjective, of course. Unfortunately, you can only render videos with watermarks with the trial version.  https://www.movavi.com/video-editor-plus/